Emotional Withdrawal Is One of the Biggest “Battles Men Face,” Says
Best-Selling Author Dr. Gregory Jantz in Latest Book

January 03, 2013 06:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

EDMONDS, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Men and women fight different “battles of the mind,” writes
internationally known author and psychologist
Dr. Gregory Jantz in his new book Battles
Men Face, and among the most common struggles men deal with is
resisting their tendency to withdraw emotionally – something that can be
particularly frustrating and incomprehensible to the women in their
lives.

Battles Men Face is the latest title from Dr. Jantz, who has
written many books on emotional well-being, mental health and family
relationships, including the best-selling Hope, Help and Healing for
Eating Disorders. Dr. Jantz is the founder and director of The
Center for Counseling and Health Resources, a residential treatment
facility in Edmonds, Wash., hosts a radio show in the Seattle area, and
has appeared numerous times in national media.

Dr. Jantz says that in times of stress, or when they feel threatened by
circumstances, most men seem programmed to “pull back” rather than to
talk about their fears and feelings. This reaction can confound, concern
and sometimes anger their wives and girlfriends, especially since most
women have the exact opposite tendency – in times of trouble, women
usually want to get more engaged emotionally, and to work out
problems through conversation and sharing feelings.

“Men typically react to a crisis by withdrawing into themselves,”
explains Dr. Jantz. “You can call it ‘shutting down’ or ‘checking out’ –
it’s even been referred to as ‘cave dwelling’ – but men seem to have a
natural need for silence and solitude to work out life’s problems.”

Some withdrawal for processing and reflection can be healthy and
necessary to a point, says Dr. Jantz, and women should learn not to take
it personally. However, men need to understand that extreme and
prolonged emotional
withdrawal isn’t healthy for them or for their relationships.

Dr. Jantz says that he wrote Battles Men Face to give men
“strategies to win the war within,” including not only the battle
against inappropriate emotional withdrawal but also against other
temptations common to men such as anger, absorption in work, excessive
competitiveness, overindulgence in food and alcohol, sexual addiction
and viewing pornography. Battles Men Face can be ordered directly
from The
Center’s website.